American soulstress Madeleine Peyroux: ‘I don’t fit in any of the purist categories but that is a better way to live’

Ahead of her show at the Royal Opera House Muscat, American singer Madeleine Peyroux tells us about her latest album and her approach to music.

Madeleine Peyroux performs with Barak Mori and Jon Herington, right. Photo by Roberto Ricciuti

When you are in the middle of a world tour, venues can often blend into each other. But when it comes to Amsterdam's hallowed rock venue, Paradiso, Madeleine Peyroux is almost misty-eyed. Talking exclusively to The National before her recent gig there, the American soulstress recalled busking outside the venue during her travels in her youth.

“It is amazing,” she says. “I had a great time just doing it for me and I always dreamed I would play here. This is a special thing.”

The 42-year-old is about to notch another career milestone by making her Middle Eastern debut, with a performance at the Royal Opera House Muscat on Thursday night.

She told us about her acclaimed new covers album, Secular Hymns, and the responsibility as a singer has when stepping onto the stage.

Secular Hymns is a deeply evocative work. It has an immediate and live feeling to it and captures the tightness of your trio. Why record an all-covers album?

This record is a very natural development from exploring the songs that I love. You know, I didn’t even plan to make a record. I just wanted to document the trio that I was playing with. A trio is really a special format because it allows a lot of vulnerability, but at the same time some things can happen that are unique to us playing together. With no drummer, we just have to agree what the groove is and who is supporting who. Everybody has to be aware of everything – that is the beauty of it.

None of the songs here are explicitly religious, but I would suggest there is a meditative quality to them. Would you agree?

I do believe that and that is why I titled the record that way. The songs on the record are not specifically sacred at all – some of them are obviously meditative and spiritual. The people that I admire, there is always some spiritual aspect to what they did.

What qualities do you look for in a song when you choose to cover it? Is it about the composition or the lyrics?

It has to be all of the above. To be really generous to an audience, it is important to love what you are doing, as they will notice if you don’t. You also have to embody the song, and that’s our job. We need to be honest with ourselves as singers. We need to know who we are as people and the songs that we sing must fit our natural being.

One of my favourite tracks on the album is your sombre take on Linton Kwesi Johnson's sunny reggae anthem, More Time. How did that come about?

My approach was this was not a reggae cover but just a song. We want to take the song and just live in it, but not in the context of it, if you know what I am saying. It’s a pretty polarising song, some people find it different, while others said I should not have done it.

Throughout your career, both critics and fans have had different opinions on how to label you. So let me ask you directly: do you consider yourself a jazz or blues singer?

I am happy to be put anywhere in the store as long as they have, but I don’t fit anywhere, really. If I had to choose one, I am a blues singer. That’s it. I try to write songs, too, but that is a totally different hat. For a jazz audience, I am a pop singer, to a pop audience, I am a jazz singer. I don’t fit in any of the purist categories. But that is a better way to live. I am not doing it on purpose or to be rebellious. It is just that I want it to be about the music and that’s it really.

• Madeleine Peyroux performs at the Royal Opera House Muscat on Thursday, February 16, in Oman. Tickets, from Dh47, at www.rohmuscat.org